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Since I started engaging in multi-sports events (March 2016), I developed a habit of “stalking” co-athletes based from the released race start list. Not until this race- It was all me. My own pace. My own kind of focus. My own game. (taray!!!! gume-game!)

The organizers sent a message 10-days prior to the event that I was confirmed for registration and that in my Age Group (20-24 years old), there were 7 of us.

I wasn’t in full condition yet as the accident & sickness that caught me for the past 2 weeks have hindered me to devote time for “peak” training. When my teammates were already in “peak”, I was just lying in my bed, trying to cover lost mileage on swim, bike and run through online swiping. HUHU. I was all nuts! The sports-hiatus was crazy! I even left all my team group chats just to shake off envy of their trainings. Haha! I told myself that if this isn’t for me, then so be it.

Sunrise Events only hosts 5150 distance (1.5km open water swim, 40km bike ride and 10k run race) for several years now. This year, the inaugural Sunrise Sprint or S2 was also staged. It is a 750m open water swim, 20km bike ride, 5km run race.

“Sprint distance triathlon is fit for beginners wanting to immerse themselves into the triathlon, for enthusiasts who wants to race without having to worry about long periods of training, or for the tri warrior who has been off the circuit and is raring to make a comeback.” (regent.5150philippines.com)

The event was held in the Triathlon capital of Northern Luzon- the beautiful Subic Bay.

After a week of bed rest & sports-hiatus due to a nasty weekend accident, Wohooo! Finished my 1st official trail run! ❤

Ranked 7th of 74 female finishers

Time: 3:08:42

Overall rank: Unsure as the 15km overall rankings were mixed up

I registered a month prior to the event date. I was really excited about this as I have long been eyeing to officially finish a trail run (or in this case, fast hike. LOL).

I’ve never been to Mt. Sembrano (625-745 MASL). Seeing it in photos, I might have underestimated its steep rocky trails. It stars the views of Laguna De Bay, Talim Isand and Pililia Windmills.

Initially, the title “Uphill Challenge” wasn’t in the event poster. I wasn’t really pushing through due to what happened a week before this race. And with a week’s worth of full bed rest, pain relievers, healing scars and with only 5km road training, I knew it was impossible to do this.

I am thanking the heavens for granting me my strength back a day before the race. KENYUBELIBEET! Chugged in my meds, 1 bottle of booster C, charged my inner bullishness and off I go to Mt. Sembrano. 🙂

15KM elevation

It was a road to mountain to road run. Starting with a ~5km unli-ascent. We were all just fast hiking. For chances of real running, we fly. I really felt flying! I can’t feel any pain, might have been Alaxan kickin’ in, and my legs were already welcoming gushing bloody sweat.

Cameo with Sir Renson, runner with only 1 amazingly strong leg. Thank you for the uphill pacing. You are an inspiration! 🙂

Almost summit (c) Running Photographers

There was an aid station before reaching the summit. I was begging for water here as I only have a bottle of Pocari Sweat. To my dismay, I just grabbed chips and a bottle of fit ‘n right. Fortunately, a marshal in the station had water and generously shared it with me. Aww thank you! Sorry I didn’t get your name.

Downhill love! (c) Running Photographers

I was running with a pack of men at around ~8km when someone yelled “Pang 30km to!”. Rattling, we went back and lost a couple of minutes. Good thing some other 15km runners insisted that we keep on going as it was the correct route. There’s no other yellow ribbon mark elsewhere. Trusting my gut and to make up for the lost minutes, I rushed and zoomed out from the pack.

I was struggling in the downhill part. It was my 1st time to use my Sandugo Ourea Trail Running Shoes (#SupportLocal kasi sana ang peg ni Ati). My toes were already screaming pain and with only a few KMs down left, I just walked. I know it’s bad to “try anything new on race day”, but I don’t have a choice and this was my only trail shoes. Usually when I go hiking, I only wear sandals. Lesson learned.

From a fail shoes, my hydration vest was a delight! I bought Amihan Fast Trak Hydration Vest Php1200 at BaseKamp. Having read positive reviews about it, I was confident the vest would aid me up 15kms or even more trail mileage in the future. In my vest I had 2 bottles of Pocari Sweat, 2 Cloud 9 Salted Caramel bars, Few Band-Aids and my cellphone.

TBR Batchmate, Iggy! Thank you for the carpool & brekky!

UST High School represent! Nice seeing you Pando and Jomari. Nice meeting you, Pao! See you in the next events!

Top 19 for 30km, Jomel.

Finished the race with endorphin-high. Thank you MGMMountain Run and Sir DBB for a well-organized event. Your crew is warmly welcoming. The environment didn’t feel foreign to me. Even before this race, you guys already assured an amazing experience. Kudos!

YAYs (sobrang biased ko LOL)

I liked the uphill better than the downhill. More rests. Toes aren’t dying.

In leaving a phase in our lives, we’re not really running away from it but from the person we’ve become while with it. I’ve learned that looking after your self-interest doesn’t mean foregoing your ideals. It means you respect yourself enough to want to be whole. Only then can you truly help others. (B.Bernal, 2016 via FB)

Aquaman Aquathlon is the first leg of SBR.ph’s tri-event series. It covered 800m swim and a 4k run along the hilly Philsports (formerly Ultra) grounds.

Swim-Run route details. This was also discussed by Sir Carlos De Guzman, SBR.ph founder, during the race briefing. (c) SBR.ph

SBR.ph’s branding for the series is “the ONLY race designed & organized for newbies and newbies-at-heart” and it has been up and running for 3 years now. There is no cut-off and 80% of the joiners are really first-timers in the multi-sports community.

For this year, there were 300+ participants. The event started with race kit distribution, body markings, transition area and pool opening.

I arrived in the venue exactly 6am and went straight to get my race kit & body marking. I am F41.

I set up my run essentials: Running shoes, sun specs, race belt and top in my transition basket, did active stretches and dipped into the pool for a warm-up. We had less than an hour to keep our bodies warmed up, but it felt too long so we just interacted with other participants.

With Ate Anj and Nikki, fellow TBR alum. (c) TL Peterson

After swim warm-up. We had so much time. HAHA (c) TL Peterson

At exactly 7am, our wave was called. Little did we know that all females for age groups F 15-19 / F20-29 / F40-Above / RELAY will be Wave 1 for swim. That’s a total of 60 swimmers for a mass swim. Still feeling jittery and not confident about our sprint swim skills, we were at the back of the pack. Oooops. Coach Nur was saying this was very nonstrategic as during the whole swim course, we were swimming with a pack rather than leading the pack. This added few minutes in our swim time.

Scared cats at the back of the pack. 1st 100m should be a sprint, too (which we didn’t do. Iskeryd po).

The 1st 400m was a struggle as I couldn’t get out of the group I was trapped swimming with. I swam my way away from them and increased my speed @ 300m. I finished the 800m swim course for ~19mins and immediately dashed off to my transition basket. (c) Sabby Ow

~40seconds swim-to-run transition. I am content with how fast my transition was, but Coach Nur said I should have ditched the top as I was already wearing a trisuit. Ooops, pacute pa more kase. (c) Team aRUNkada

1st loop. I was still so happy maintaining a 5:15-5:30mins/km pace. (c) Coach JN

Already feeling the pain on the last kick. Pictures never lie! #JellyLegs (c) Coach JN

Finished the 4k run @ ~20mins and garnered a total time of 42:43mins. This is one downside for an event without a timing chip- timing isn’t as accurate. We had to rely on our watches. Btw, the event had a history of timing protests because of this.

KAPOY! Sunog bru!

1st and 2nd placers in our AG were awarded 1st and 2nd overall. So, that’s an “umph” for my place. Lol. My swim time, including some others, weren’t noted. Hmm.

This is my 3rd aquathlon for the year and I am very happy with my improving PRs in both swim and run. Still recommending this event for those who want to get a feel of a swim-run event despite its timing downside.

SBR.ph team is very accommodating and non-intimidating. Carlos really went his way out to connect to each and every participant. 🙂

Some snaps:

Team SwimNur

The Coach!

TBR represent. I shall never be alone in this multisports community. There will always be TBR alumni anywhere. ❤

Nikki and I with Bea Grabador, 1st overall for Female category. She also topped our 1st and 2nd aquathlon events- Ateneo Aquathlon and Atleta Ako! Her humility makes her even more beautiful. Good luck with your future feats, Bea.

I come to all kinds of events jittery, whether it be (high school and college) debate tournaments in the past or my recent addiction- multi-sport events, but always going home inspired, energized and ready for the next challenge.

Everything I do felt as if it’s the first time. This prolly is due to my lack of self-confidence and my constant need for reassurance, which I am combating though series of self-talks (fudge- complemented by overthinking!), pep talks from my coach, over-training, oversleeping and… panic eating! Ooops.

JITTER ~ nounjit·ter \ˈji-tər\ – a sense of panic or extreme nervousness <had a bad case of the jitters before his performance>

Flops on the race day whenever I get jitters on my head. Atleta Ako! Aquathlon 2016- panic over race bib loss- caught on official cam! Aaak! (c) Bike King

Taking my game into the next level, I know I shouldn’t let this whole tense-thing eat me alive. After all, I’m technically not “new” anymore having done 2 Aquathlon events. We all get nervous, but the skill of translating anxiousness to motivation and positive energy is also part of our training. What experts say is true- apart from physical training, mental fortitude (See: Mental Toughness) should also be sharpened.

More often than not, it is not the strong/smart/most-equipped (resources/gears-wise) who tops high-pressured games, but those with grit– the ones who can endure pain & block negativity on the spot, who sees long-term goals over just winning a particular event- that made all the difference.

For athletes, how do we say one is mentally tough? Few notes based on my experience & seeing my idols’ attitude (hehe):

They show up on training. More than showing up, they ensure quality set deliveries.

Ever seen a teammate who shows up the earliest on training day, but also is the same person who will leave the pool or the run/bike course last?

Ever encountered that teammate who is not quite content with several drills & time trials and still asks for more even if all other teammates are already in the shower or preparing to leave?

Ever had that teammate who never loses motivation even when training alone?

They never forget to say “Thank you” every after training sessions/races to the coach/es, teammates, family and friends who supported.

Even if that’s a long FB/IG post, pagbigyan! #ProudMomentHere #AngGalingKoPoShet #LookMomIdidntDie

(c) google images

Tips on getting over pre-race/pre-everything jitters:

Visualize the race day.

No matter how much training & preparation you’ve dedicated prior to this, it will never follow through if you cannot/ did not imagine what will happen on the big day.

Hope for the best conditions, but always prepare for the worse. We cannot control the nature (the weather, the currents for open water swimming, accidents we might encounter on the bike and run course, athlete’s trots, injuries, etc). We cannot control competition. We can only control ourselves, especially the inner workings of our minds! Say it with me, “No matter what happens during the race, I will give it everything I’ve got!” #LordThisisForYourGreaterGlory #ForMyFans, ganern.

Relax. Find an outlet to release tension.

For me, one is through writing. The other, eating. Mehehe.

Trust in your training.

Kudos for working your ass off! As they say, talents don’t work alone. It should be complemented with hard work (and of course, humility.)

Your body is so conditioned for this! Unless OA ka mag-carbo load. Running a marathon/ultra, teh? Full Ironman na, teh? Should only carbo-load if the intense activity will happen 2hrs above. (See:Carbo-loading tips)

Your time trials during practice is not your final time. Always remember-adrenaline, presence of supporters and event photographers will surely deduct several minutes off your time!

We shall best not only our PRs but our whole racing experience. If before, our only goal was to finish, now an added goal is “for our idols to become our friends!” So, socialize too after the event! I appreciate the multi-sport community as they are more intimate and there’s a less-competitive vibe among peers.

Triathlon includes swimming, cycling, and running in one event. Below is an overview of the types of multi-sports events & the distances they cover:

(c) Triathlon.org.au

As a newbie, I’m honestly all over the place. All I know is that, I just know how to swim, to bike and to run. Apart from reading a lot (and stalking Triathletes), I struggle to craft a strategic training schedule sans sacrificing sleep and proper nutrition. An athlete must know that to complete a triathlon, regardless of distance, one need not just know these 3 sports.

Aspiring triathletes need:

1. A coach: to correct form, share techniques and aid you to be more efficient in managing energy/power/speed, etc.

2. Support group/teammates/training buddies: to share sweaty and “sunog” hours with. Since I started training this April, I’ve experienced how:

It’s crazy to ride out longer than ~30km alone. I almost always die riding out as I am not yet accustomed to proper bike signals in open roads (with traffic and stoplights in an uphill. Huhu). I bike to work sometimes @ a steady 20-25kph, but in races, one must have an average of 35-45kph to finish with a decent bike split.

My mind’s debating with my heart to stop this whole sh*t after swimming for an hour especially during one-on-one training with Coach Nur. I’ve trained alone most of the time since my teammates have a different schedule. Since I work in graveyard, I train in the morning (immediately after work @ 7AM) while they train in the afternoon/evening.

Recently, I vowed to have a long-distance run hiatus as I am working on my speed. I realized how challenging it is to shift from LSD-pace to sprint-pace. My muscles are still crying for help & pleading “Please lose weight, Faye. Please.” But you know, I am so competitive I hate losing. LOL!

3. Budget: As they say, Triathlons are “not for the faint of heart and, apparently, not for the thin of wallet”. But fret not! It is a skill to scout for great deals (and have precious time to find them all) on bike, shoes, gears and nutrition. Few things I’ve noted through my canvassing journey(please bare with my newbie-ness, correct me if I’m wrong):

Trustworthy running shoes- Php3,000-7,000.

See: Saucony, New Balance, Zoot, Asics, Brooks and Mizuno

Quality road bike(or tri bike if you have a budget & would really be faithful to cycling)- Php 30,000-70,000. Consider the specs and group set attached when bought built. See: Road Bike Groupset Heirarchy.

There’s still so much for me to learn in this field and I’m enjoying juggling my preparation for the great T. So if you are the athletic type (or who aspires to be one) and wants to be preoccupied & productive, this might be a nice sport to try!